


I'll See You Again (in another lifetime)

by Itsnotmymain



Category: Meet the Robinsons (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coming of Age, Complicated Relationships, F/M, Incest, M/M, Parent/Child Incest, Relationship Negotiation, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, The Robinson Family Knows, Timecest - Freeform, potential polyamory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25860823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsnotmymain/pseuds/Itsnotmymain
Summary: Lewis assumed they were just mismatched.This is so much worse.
Relationships: Lewis | Cornelius Robinson/Franny Robinson, Lewis | Cornelius Robinson/Wilbur Robinson
Comments: 11
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Obligatory warning this fic will deal with both Lewis/Wilbur AND Cornelius/Wilbur. Although it will treat the situation as complicated and some characters may feel a certain way about the situation, ultimately it will be fairly uncritical so if that makes you uncomfortable, please just don't read it. Thank you.

There was one absolute truth in Lewis's world. He was unwanted. The closest thing he had to a friend was his roommate Goob, but even that was born more of proximity than true companionship. More like two cousins who tolerated each other's presence. His interests weren't exactly common among his peers, and being an orphan made it just that much harder to find common ground. 

Ultimately, he suspected the real issue was simply him. He spent more time working with machines than he did people, and that was fine with him, he loved his work. He got lost in it. It felt like a buzzing in his brain he had to keep drawing, keep building, he was so full of thoughts and ideas and they wouldn't leave him alone until he got them down on paper and made them into something tangible but before he knew it new ones had wormed their way into the spaces left behind.

Anyway, his lack of social life was really of no consequence to him. The real blow had been the interviews. 135. 135 parents had come and gone. Looked at him and found him wanting and walked away. Maybe if he'd had friends, maybe if he was good with people, maybe if he was just a little bit _more_ he could have convinced them to stay. Convinced them that he was good enough. But he didn't, and he couldn't, and another set came and went. 136. 

There was one exception to this rule. His soulmate. Of course, everyone had a soulmate. One person you would meet who was your perfect compliment, would mean the world to you. Or something. It was weird, people didn't talk about it much except in an overly romantic way. Your soulmate was perfect and once you met them your life would only be rose colored. Lewis wasn't sure how much he believed it. People don't like to talk about it but soulmates seem to come in all different shapes and sizes. The people down the street were supposedly soulmates and they would scream at each other so loud Lewis could hear it coming from his window at night. One of the girls at the orphanage found her soulmate in a classmate at school, but the other girls parents had immediately pulled her out of school and she had never seen her again. Lewis didn't want that. He didn't want finding his soulmate to make his life _worse._

"This area is not secure. Get in"

It was written across his stomach, right above the waistband of his pants. Someday he was going to meet someone who was his perfect compliment, but if no one wanted him, what would his soulmate really think?  


The kid who pulled him under the sheet covering his science project was,,,,, weird to say the least. He was talking fast, his hair was gelled in a style Lewis had never seen before, he completely forwent the traditional greeting of simply saying your full name, and he kept asking Lewis nonsensical questions. But the thing that kept Lewis stuck to his spot, unable to move or look away was. 

"This area is not secure. Get in"

That was,, those were his words. His mark. He was stuck speechless for a moment and then he realized, whatever he said next would be what was on this person's body for his whole life. Should it be something memorable? Something romantic? Something generic so he didn't actually have to deal with this right now? There were no good options and this guy was just staring at him now, clearly expecting him to say something. 

"You're the most interesting person I've ever met."

....

No response. Absolutely no reaction. This guy just went back into his weird crazy spiel about time travel or whatever and then told him to "wait here" and ran off.

So

Ok so, either Lewis was mistaken, and it was just a crazy coincidence that the words just happened to be the same.

Or, more likely, he was mismatched. Meaning their relationship wasn't mutual. They were his soulmate but he wasn't there's. Fantastic. This was the worst day of his life, truly he was completely unwanted, even on a cosmic level. If he wasn't even good enough for his soulmate, where did that leave him?  


He was a failure as an inventor, he'd never have a family, his own _soulmate_ wasn't even _his._ Why was he even here? What was the point? Tearing up his notebook hurt in a way that he _needed_ right now. What did it matter anyway, they were _useless._ He was useless.

He found the page with the diagram for his memory scanner and tore it out. All of his hard work amounting to a crumpled up piece of paper, but at least he could have the satisfaction of physically discarding it along with all of his dreams and ambitions.  
He was slumped over getting ready to get into some really good wallowing when something hit him in the head. 

He found a familiar looking crumpled up piece of paper. Upon realizing it was the blueprint he had discarded a moment ago he picked it up and threw it again, this time watching carefully as that weirdo from earlier rolled out, picked up the paper, and threw it back to him.

This was so frustrating, couldn't he just let go? "I know you're there."

"Cuckoo cuckoo"

He walked right up to him and dropped the wadded up blueprint. Wilbur or whatever his name was rolled back out, and pressed it back into his hand, "cooing" the whole time.

"Would you _quit_ that, I know you're not a pigeon." 

"Shhh!!!" Suddenly he was wrapped all around him with his hand over Lewis's mouth and this was all Too Much. "You're gonna blow my cover! Now, enough moping. Take this back to the science fair and fix that Memory Scanner!"

That was it! "STOP! Get away from me!!" Lewis pushed and struggled as far away as he could get. This guy couldn't possibly be his soulmate because this is so far from what he needs right now it _hurt._  


So, maybe Wilbur wasn't as crazy as he seemed. Actually, the future was kind of... beautiful. Wilbur was acting kind of aloof but Lewis could tell he was enjoying showing him around. And how could he not be amazed? They were _flying!_ And the technology all around them was breathtaking! He had his face pressed up against the glass to get a better view and then someone waved and he was grinning and he turned back to Wilbur and- he was staring at him. Their eyes met and he looked so _fond_ and. Lewis quickly turned away, sure that he was blushing.  


This was so frustrating. _Wilbur_ was so frustrating. Lewis has been left alone without any explanations and the worst part was that despite how annoyed he was, he still found Wilbur ridiculously attractive! How was that fair?! He talked so fast and wasn't explaining anything but this had been the most interested and engaged Lewis had ever been about something that wasn't potential inventions. As frustrating as he was, Wilbur was strangely charismatic and Lewis felt the loss of his presence immediately. Or maybe it wasn't strange? He was his soulmate after all.

Regardless it didn't take long for Lewis to start inspecting the tube. He was just trying to figure out how it worked!!!! He didn't intend to actually get sucked up!! But here he was, stuck god knows where with no idea how to get back to where he's supposed to be.

Admittedly, he was enjoying his impromptu "tour" of the house, and getting to know Wilbur's family was....kind of nice. He knew he didn't necessarily belong, it wasn't even his time! There was no way he'd be allowed to stay. But he couldn't help imagining a future where he was allowed to stay by Wilbur's side, despite the fact that he wasn't actually his soulmate in return. The family would accept him as one of their own and he could at least be a good friend to Wilbur, even if he would never want anything more from him.  


Dinner was- nice. It was nice to be a part of a family, even if it was only for a day. And even though it was born more of the stressful situation they were in, it felt good to be swapping looks with Wilbur. Saying things with their eyes that they couldn't say aloud. It was a sort of intimacy he'd never shared with anyone before and he was already mourning that his time here would inevitably be cut short. Also, having Wilbur protect him when his identity was about to be revealed felt nice. It felt good to have someone want to protect him.

He could have done without the dinosaur attack however.  


Everyone is happy and celebrating and. And Wilbur is looking at him. Lewis had been too busy running for his life and trying to stop the world from turning into a weird mechanical hat dystopia to really process it since he found out about his relations to Wilbur but now that it's not life or death and he doesn't have a creepy dude threatening him he finally has the chance to process the fact that his _Soulmate_ is also his _son_ and. The sob is out of his mouth before he can even think to stop it and his hands fly up to his face to contain the sound but it's too late. Everyone's gone silent, Wilbur is looking at him concerned. Oh god.

"Lewis? What's wrong?" 

He shook his head and turned away, still holding his hands over his face and his eyes were squeezed shut. "It's fine. I'm fine." His voice broke as he spoke, barely holding back from breaking out into tears. 

Franny approached him and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her and she held his gaze as tears started filling up in his eyes. "Honey, you're clearly not fine. It's ok for it to not be ok"

He crumpled to the ground and began sobbing in earnest. Franny rubbed his back and told him it was ok, that it was all over now but he just shook his head. "You don't understand."

That's when Cornelius arrived.

"The Time Machines are gone! Oh." Cornelius stepped out into the yard and his face immediately softened when he locked eyes on his younger self.

"Sorry, I knew this was coming, I just thought I had more time." He slowly approached the boy and knelt down. "Hey, it's ok. Is it alright if I give you a hug?" Lewis nodded and then he was swept up into a strong and secure embrace. 

Lewis couldn't stop crying. "I thought I was just mismatched, this is so much worse!"

Cornelius patted his back and spoke softly but clearly. "I know this is hard right now but look! It gets better, see?" He gestured out towards all of the people gathered around them. "Look at the life we build. Look at all of these people who love and support us and who we love and support in turn. I promise you'll learn how to move on from this. I promise you will be happy."

"Cornelius" he looked up to find his wife staring right back, and she did not look happy. "You wanna fill the rest of us in on what's going on?"

"Ah. Well?" He set Lewis back down "Why don't you go find somewhere safe to sit ok? I'll take care of this." He winked. Lewis nodded and tried to find somewhere where he wouldn't be the center of attention, but it was difficult with every single member of the family alternating their gaze between him and the two Robinsons of interest. At the same time, Wilbur made his way over to him. Lewis didn't know if he could handle being close to Wilbur right now, but he also wasn't really sure he had a choice.

"Are you ok?"

Lewis clutched at himself a little tighter. "I'm fine."

"So!" Cornelius began "I suppose this is as good a time as any to have this particular conversation. As you all know, Franny and I are not soulmates. This has never bothered me about our relationship. I am happy and fulfilled and I love you very much. Unlike Franny I do, however, have a soulmate."

"You said you couldn't be together." Franny spoke softly. Lewis couldn't tell what she was feeling but it was clear whatever it was was being felt deeply.

"That I did! And it's still very true!" Lewis noted absently that his older selves hands were shaking. He supposed that even after 18 years of preparing for it it would still make sense that he would be nervous. "You see, the reason for that is, my soulmate is Wilbur." Stunned silence wasn't able to last long because Cornelius was quickly launching back into his explanation. "You see I met Wilbur as a child of course when he went back in time to my science fair. I assumed we were mismatched because he didn't seem to react at all to my words. I realize now that unfortunately, it's not that we don't match, it simply wasn't Wilburs first time meeting me." His words were gradually picking up pace, a sort of manic energy was beginning to build as his hands took on a greater and greater role in his storytelling. "It was heartbreaking, but I came to accept it. I figured I'd just live in the future! That's where my soulmate was so clearly that's where I belonged as well." Cornelius stopped and sort of, sagged down a bit, letting out a breath. "Of course then I learned the truth. It was hard. I felt pretty---messed up for a long time. I didn't know how to accept it. But I realized that when I thought we were just mismatched I had already realized that I would probably just be supporting Wilbur, that our relationship couldn't be reciprocal. Over time, I came to accept the fact that I would have to be supporting him as a father instead of as a friend. I know some of you may find this news upsetting, but please understand I've done my very best to make things ok given the circumstances. I promise I would never do anything to intentionally hurt Wilbur."

Wilbur marched up to Cornelius, tension and anger radiating out from his person. "You think being rejected by my soulmate doesn't _hurt_ me?"

Cornelius suddenly looked very tired. "It's not the same."

"So what, I'm just supposed to live my whole life without my _soulmate_ just because that's what _you've_ decided is best for me? Don't I get any say in this?"

"You need me to be a good father to you Wilbur. You don't need me to be anything else."

"How can you know! What right do you have to say that?"

"Because! I lived it! You're mother and I were able to find each other and have a happy and fulfilling life together during a time in which it was much harder and much less accepted to live a life without your soulmate than it is now. You live in a day and age where people are starting to become much more accepting about what sort of possibilities there are when it comes to relationships. You'll have a much easier time than we did finding happiness without a soulmate." 

Wilbur was clearly still angry. There was still more to be said, but Cornelius sighed. "I know this is a lot to take in right now. Why don't you take Lewis home? We can discuss this more later."

"Fine." Wilbur stalked over to Lewis but when he saw how anxious he looked he softened and approached more gently. "Are you ready to go?" Lewis just nodded. They both got into the time machine and as they flew off, the Robinson family stood and waved off their departure, but the energy was far more awkward and much more subdued than it would have been had this happened just 30 minutes ago.  


"I can't believe he would do this to me!!! And I'm just supposed to go along with it? As if I have no say?! Soulmates are supposed to be partners aren't they? Equals? If we're going to do this I should at least have a _choice_ in the matter!" Wilbur scrubbed at his head. "And he kept me in the dark about it my whole life! How is that ok?" Realization suddenly dawning, he turned to look at Lewis "And you knew this whole time that we're soulmates! Why didn't you say anything?!" 

Lewis flinched. "I'm _sorry_ ok? I thought we were mismatched! I didn't know! I thought-" his voice broke "I didn't think you were actually _mine._ And it hurt. It was just, it was easier to just not say anything."

Wilbur pulled back, regret written all over his face. "You're right. I'm sorry, that must have been really difficult." He looked away. He felt so _sad._ Everything about this was hard to deal with, he wasn't sure where his hurt feelings ended and his empathy for his dad and Lewis began. It was just easier to be angry and not deal with it. But that wasn't really fair to Lewis, it wasn't really his fault they were stuck in this situation. "Are you ok?"

"... I'm not sure."

They sat in silence for a minute, just looking at each other.

"Can I hug you?" 

Wilbur nodded. It felt desperate, they were both holding on so tightly and Lewis could feel Wilbur trembling. It didn't fix anything, but it did make it all a little easier to bear. Even if just for a moment.  


The whole family minus Wibur were piled into the living room. Cornelius was sitting in his usual chair but he seemed so much smaller in it than he usually did. All curled up on himself.

Franny was the first to speak "I didn't even know something like this was possible. Do you think it's because of the time travel?"

"I don't know. Back when I was still looking into it, there was hardly any real research on the subject. All anyone wanted to look into or report were pretty, socially acceptable matches. By the time research started to become less biased and actually look into more accurate and realistic conversations and data about soulmates I had already decided to. Well. I had already decided to move on."

The room fell back into silence.

"Son, you know we don't blame you. How could we? You can't control who your soulmate is." Bud said with a hesitant smile. 

Lucille was next, "I can't believe we never noticed... This must have been eating you up for years" 

"Well. From your perspective this is how I've always been. I found out right before you met me, remember? So me figuring out how to cope with all of this was just another thing you guys unknowingly helped me work through." Cornelius gave his own shakey smile in return.

"My biggest concern right now is Wilbur." Of course Franny had her priorities in order. "This will clearly be hard on him and I'm not sure what the best way to move forward is." She sighed. "I wish you had told me about this before."

"I'm sorry. I remembered this event, and I assume we're currently in a stable time loop. I was afraid to change anything in case I destabilized it."

"That's not a good excuse. That's just a justification. The only reason not telling me is a part of the time loop is because you chose to not tell me the first time around."

Cornelius chuckled sadly. "You're right. Of course you are. I suppose mostly I was just scared. But you're right, I should have told you. This wasn't fair to you. I'm sorry." 

She shook her head. "It's ok. I'm glad we're talking about it now. Now, what are we going to do about it."

Cornelius ran a hand through his hair. "This is probably going to be very difficult. I don't want to be too distant, he needs to know I'm still here for him and I still love him, but I doubt Wil will be interested in maintaining boundaries at this point."

"Should you though?"

"What do you mean?"

"Should you be maintaining those boundaries?"

Everyone's heads whipped around to look at Franny in shock and exclamations of surprise and disgust could be heard around the room.

"Everyone hush for a second, give me a chance to explain. You two are soulmates. There has to be a reason for that. Maybe keeping you apart will only hurt both of you more. I'm not saying right now, honestly I'm not sure I'm comfortable with anything happening between the two of you until he's at least 16, but at some point I think you should explore it."

"How can you say that? He's my son!"

While they were talking Uncle Art stood up and walked out of the room. They would have to deal with that later. 

"He's also your soulmate! And we have to take responsibility for what that means! It won't stop being true just because we don't like it."

Everyone was quiet for a minute, contemplating her words.

"....What about us?"

She sighed. "I don't know Cornelius. That's something we'll have to figure out. Fortunately we still have a few years in the meantime."  


"Hey, this isn't the science fair."

"I know."

"So then... Where are we?"

"I promised you I'd take you to see your mom."

"But, I thought-"

"Wilbur Robinson always keeps his promises!" He was grinning, but it felt like plastic, and Lewis watched as it slipped right off his face. "and, I figured. If you wanted to you could change your destiny right now. Might even get a different soulmate." Wilbur wasn't looking at him.

Lewis started to reach out, but he stopped himself and pulled away. He got out of the time machine and slowly made his way over to his mom. It hadn't really hit him yet, that was his _mom._ He could go over there right now if he wanted to and actually meet her. He could hug her and talk to her and find out what kind of person she was but. But he couldn't stop thinking about what Wilbur said. Did he want to change his destiny? Did he want a different soulmate? He could still feel the sense memory of his words fading off of his stomach as Wilbur faded from existence. Is that what he wanted? 

He stayed hidden. 

He knocked on the door.

He went back to the time machine. 

"You didn't talk to her?" Wilbur looked comically shocked, mouth hanging open and everything.

"Nope."

"Why not?!"

"I already have a family." Lewis grinned. Wilbur just kept staring, his eyes darting around Lewis's face. He was clearly having a lot of Big Thoughts but Lewis couldn't tell what they were exactly.

And then Wilbur surged forward and kissed him.

Although it was rushed and clumsy and Wilbur was clearly more than a little desperate it was. Nice. More than nice. Lewis didn't want to stop, one of his hands came around to fist into Wilburs hair, the other one was resting on his chest. He moaned as Wilbur wrapped one arm around his back and placed the other on his hips and pulled Lewis flush up against him. They pulled away for a second, gasping for breath before their mouths were magnetically drawn back together. Is this what kissing was like for everyone? Or was it just because they were soulmates? Lewis felt a warmth filling up his chest and a tingling over his skin and he felt buzzy in the sort of way he did when he was working on one of his inventions and all of his ideas were Too Much but right now instead of his head feeling too full his thoughts were strangely quiet. It was hard to focus on anything other than the sensations he was feeling.

Wilbur was the one to finally pull away. "Uh. Wow."

Lewis chuckled, a bit out of breath.

"Sorry I just, you were, and I was just. I just didn't think I could take it if I left you right now without kissing you."

"That's ok I, um, yeah. I liked it."

They smiled a bit shyly at each other and Lewis leaned over and gave Wilbur a much more chaste kiss. Wilbur cleared his throat and started the time machine up but Lewis was pretty sure he could see him blushing.  



	2. Nothing of Significance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _you were the first one to show me the stars_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow both happier and sadder this chapter? In my opinion anyway

Franny was unmarked. People didn't like to talk about it very often- perhaps there were even some who didn't know it was an option- but it _did_ happen and she was living proof. 

It became easier once she and Lewis got together. She didn't necessarily like that it was easier. 

People made assumptions about them and she was never really sure if it was worth it to explain that no, they weren't really soulmates. Yes, they were still happy together. No, she wasn't keeping him from his true love. Or whatever other bullshit people would say to her.

Before that though, when she was young, life was hard. She learned very quickly not to mention her markless status, but word spread fast anyways. People said that since she didn't have a soulmate, she probably didn't even have a _soul._ Obviously that wasn't true. She liked to think she was her own soulmate. Fully complete all by herself. But people would rather ostracize those that are different than to take the time to actually understand all of the ways in which they were the same.

Lewis was never like that. He was always open minded, something like her lack of a mark mattered very little in comparison to all of the ways they could learn to genuinely connect as people.

She supposed now she knew why.

She doesn't blame him. She's not upset. Ok, well, maybe the situation is a little upsetting but for the most part she does believe Cornelius made the best decisions that he could given the situation.

Franny no longer talks to her parents. They have very unpleasant beliefs about her lack of a soulmate. They wouldn't necessarily say anything outright but the constant passive agressive comments and the subtle ways in which they don't treat her as well as they do her siblings made their feelings quite clear. Again, bringing Cornelius into her life had made them a bit more pleasant about the situation, but they would still make snide comments that not-so-subtly implied that Cornelius perhaps deserved someone a bit better than her and wasn't it so sad that he wouldn't be able to be with his soulmate because they were getting married? Needless to say it was not a great hardship for her to get away from her parents at the earliest opportunity and never look back. Her brothers were quick to follow suit and she is entirely grateful for the love and support of the people she truly calls family.

So yes, she's made her peace with the situation long ago and she's happy that she is the way she is. And yet, there was nothing like the relief she felt when her son was born and she saw the telltale smear of a mark not yet formed running down his spine. He would never have to deal with the same hardships she endured, and she would never have to give him the comfort and support she had so dearly yearned for when she was young. Didn't every parent want an easier life for their child?

The words don't form fully for most until they're at least 6 years old but until then they appear as ink stains on the skin, dotting along the surface. Given the size of the stain it would probably be at least a whole sentence, which is unusual. She had wondered what kind of person they would be to have an a-typical greeting to match an a-typical soulmark. She had assumed they would get along well with their quirky bunch. She wasn't necessarily wrong but she kind of wishes she had been a little less right.

This was a hard situation. She loved Wilbur. She loved Cornelius. She didn't want to be the reason either of them suffered.

She bit her lip and scrubbed a hand over her face. She needed a drink.  
Franny made her way over to a part of the house that didn't see much use anymore, a cozy room with a fully stocked bar and a few comfortable couches and armchairs to relax in and have engaging conversations.

It used to be a common place to find a family member or two relaxing and enjoying each other's company but when Wilbur was born they made the unspoken decision to cultivate spaces that were also safe and inviting for him as well and this particular area fell out of use. Presumably once Wilbur was old enough to start drinking they would open the space back up so that he could experiment in a safe and comfortable environment but for the meantime it was almost guaranteed no one would find her here. 

Almost. 

However when she opened the door there was Art, halfway through a drink and clearly miserable.

"Hey kid," she put a hand on his shoulder and tried to smile gently, though she imagined it probably looked a bit more fragile than she was hoping for. "You ok?"

He shook his head, although whether that was an answer to her question specifically or just in response to the whole situation was unclear to her. "How can you be ok with this? How can you just let this happen?" In that moment it was as if they were kids again. Despite the fact that he was much bigger than her now physically, he suddenly looked quite small, and he was still looking to her for answers she never really had but she would try, she would try for him. 

"What else can we do? We don't know why this is happening, or what it means. We just have to work through it and keep moving forward. Hiding away from it or pretending like it's not happening won't actually make it go away, it will just mean we're less prepared to deal with the issues that do arise." She sighed and started to make herself a drink, 2 fingers of whiskey served neat, "The truth is, I don't know. I don't know what's happening, I don't know how to fix this or what the right thing to do is. I don't know what this means for my marriage or my life-" she had to cut herself off, holding back tears.

"Oh, sis." Art pulled her into his chest and started rubbing her back.

"It will be ok. I'm sure it will be ok. Cornelius loves me, I know he does. And he's a good man. I'm sure we can figure out how to make this work in a way that's good for everyone."

Art was quiet for a minute. "...How can someone's soulmate be their own son?"

"I don't know, but it happened, does it matter how?"

Art gave her a look, "How can you really be sure they _are_ actually soulmates?"

She shook her head. "Art, I never really thought about it before but, Cornelius's soulmark, it's in Wilburs handwriting."

Wilbur was already almost a whole year older than Lewis. He didn't want to just leave Lewis all on his own for a year (he needed Wilburs awe-inspiring presence in his life, obviously.) But he also didn't want the age difference to just keep increasing, so he developed a very detailed system to make sure that, in general, he would meet up with Lewis at such a time so that they had both spent the same amount of time away from each other. (It included things like, a calendar, to calculate how many days it had been, and a marker, to write the date it would correspond to in Lewis's time. Very advanced stuff.) Anyway, despite having all of this figured out, it had been a month and he still hadn't gone back in time again yet. He figured his Fathe- uh. Ok so that term feels very uncomfortable now but Wilbur isn't really sure what a good alternative is. "Cornelius" felt just as wrong but in a different way. What even is his life. Anyway, he-who-shall-not-be-named-until-we-figure-our-shit-out-I-guess had to know what Wilbur was planning given that he'd lived it already. Since he hadn't said anything Wilbur was choosing to take it as both permission and consent.

Not uh, not Lewis's consent though, uh just you know-actually nevermind.

Regardless, today was the day. 

One of the plus sides to having a home this large and a family so diverse is that no one thought twice if they didn't see him for most of the day. As long as someone had seen him at some point people were generally not concerned. Probably not the safest but that's why Carl exists, to make sure he was taken care of even when he's by himself.

The point was, all he had to do was sneak into the garage and reassure the very anxious Carl that everything would be fine (of course it would be, he was Wilbur Robinson, what could go wrong?) and he was on his way.

Wilbur was leaning against the fence outside of Lewis's school, waiting for him to get out of class. He had his arms crossed and sunglasses on and every few minutes he ran his hand through his hair just to make sure everything was in place. He was definitely not anxious, of course not, he knew he was cool and charming and honestly, Lewis should feel lucky Wilbur went out of his way to see him. Yeah, definitely not nervous.

A bell chimed and little by little, students began to filter out through the doors, their numbers slowly building up until it was no longer a trickle of bodies but a flood.

He got quite a few stares and he wasn't sure if it was just because he wasn't there normally or if it was because he was failing to fit in in this time period but whatever. 

Finally, Lewis came out as the outpouring of individuals was starting to slow down but had not yet entirely ceased. Wilbur's heart may or may not have immediately picked up pace and he was failing to fight the compulsion to just openly stare (but at least his sunglasses would successfully hide his gaze). He saw the exact moment in which Lewis noticed him, he stopped in his tracks and Wilbur watched as his face went from pure shock quickly morphing into such joy that it was almost embarrassing for Wilbur to look at. And then Lewis was running and Wilbur was definitely just imagining that his own cheeks were heating up right now, he definitely wasn't blushing of course not. 

Lewis finally caught up to him and he was panting and grinning and breathlessly he said "I've waited so long to see you again!"

Apparently, Lewis just found Wilbur's off switch.

His mouth was literally hanging open, he had unfolded his arms and his hands were just hanging in the air, shaking slightly. His face was quickly turning (an attractive shade of) red and his sunglasses were very slowly sliding down his nose but he didn't seem to notice. Lewis carefully picked them off of Wilbur's face and a good 5 seconds later his hand came up to touch the spot on his face where they had been and then slowly dropped back down, all the while his wide eyes were darting back and forth around Lewis's face.

He did feel a bit bad. He didn't mean to, he's not even sure what to call this but this sort of reaction wasn't what he was expecting.

"Y-you, you " Wilbur made a sort of choking sound.

Lewis was starting to get a bit concerned. "Are you ok?"

Wilbur seemed to snap out of it just a bit, he looked side to side and then grabbed Lewis's arm and pulled them into a more secluded area. Before Lewis could even orient himself to the new and odd situation Wilburs lips were on his and his hand was already snaking around Lewis's waist to pull them flush up against each other.

Lewis moaned into the kiss and he still didn't really know what he was doing but the general consensus seemed to be "touch Wilbur as much as possible" according to what his body was doing and he couldn't seem to stop himself from complying. Somehow one of his hands had ended up under Wilbur's shirt and he groaned in response and _wow._ Everything seemed so urgent and Lewis could hardly breathe but it felt so _good._

"How, mmm, how did you know," Wilbur's mouth moved from his lips over to just behind his ear and then started trailing down, gently working his lips over the delicate skin and making Lewis shiver, "that those were my" he paused mid sentence to place an open-mouthed kiss on Lewis's collarbone, "words?"

Lewis was having trouble following, especially with the way Wilburs hands were scratching through his hair. "Wh-what?"

Wilbur pulled away and stopped until Lewis opened his eyes and looked up at him. "Those were my words, my mark. How did you know? How did you say them?"

"Oh, um, well, I just decided that I wanted those to be the first words I said to you. So if they're your mark, it's because I did it right!"

Wilbur dropped his head down onto Lewis's shoulder and took a shuddering breath.  
"..Wilbur?"

A pause. "You're just, a lot." He said it softly, in a way that made it feel as if he was just barely holding himself back. Back from what, Lewis wasn't exactly sure but the anticipation made him feel tense and alert and it felt like his head was buzzing. It made him feel good. _Wilbur_ made him feel good.

They didn't stay out there for too much longer. Eventually they came to their senses and realized that perhaps out in broad daylight wasn't the best place to be making out if they were trying to remain low-profile. Thankfully it didn't seem like anyone had noticed them but they decided it was probably best to head home regardless. Lewis's parents couldn't be allowed to see Wilbur for obvious reasons, so Lewis went in first, greeted his parents, "Yeah, class was great, mmhhm yep, I love you! Gotta go!" And then he snuck around and let Wilbur in through the fire escape by the window in his room.

"Pretty slick place you've got here" Wilbur was looking around with a grin on his face that was almost teasing but Lewis knew he was probably just comparing it to the high-tech version he was used to, looking for the familiar among all of the foreign. "So," he nodded towards all of the bits and scraps laying around the room, "whatcha working on?"

Lewis immediately felt his face heat up "Oh, uh, nothing really, I mean, I haven't really finished anything yet, I mean I have but-"

"Come on, you're the Father of Tomorrow or whatever, I'm sure whatever you've got is great! And if not, hey, at least it's another step forward."

Lewis scratched the back of his head, "Ok, but, well, ok." He started with the one or two small things he'd actually completed already. Nothing super interesting so far, that's why he was able to finish them so fast. Then when Wilbur still seemed interested/enthusiastic he moved on to his works in progress. At first he was hesitant and although it seemed like he had plenty to say about his work, he still seemed to be holding himself back. As they got more and more into it though Wilbur noticed he started picking up energy, explaining more thoroughly, showing Wilbur some of the functions that were half-finished, he seemed to be gaining confidence and Wilbur was really happy to just listen to him talk about something he was so passionate about. Too, he was feeling incredibly nostalgic about the situation. His Dad used to let him poke through his old inventions while he was working in the lab and Wilbur recognized a lot of the things Lewis was showing him from their both more complete and more worn down state in the future. He didn't recognize all of them though and he had to wonder if it was because they didn't end up being successful or if they had just gotten lost to time.

Franny was perched in an alcove in the upper floor of the library. It was raining softly outside and she had the window cracked so she could better hear the tapping notes of the rain and feel the cool breeze. Every time she breathed in the smell seemed to fill her up and it left her buzzing, full of good feelings, not at all restless but with a little too much energy to focus on anything else. It was distracting honestly, she was supposed to be reading, but it was such a perfect day....

Cornelius popped up in the corner of her vision and gave a small apologetic wave.  
She smiled at him, even though she recognized that look. Oh well, she wasn't really getting anything done anyways. "

"Hi, Honey, sorry to disturb you. Do you mind if we talk for a bit?"

They moved to one of the sets of couches better suited to company than her secluded nook.

"What did you want to talk about?" She had her suspicions of course, nothing was nearly as strained a topic nowadays as the Wilbur Situation™.

Cornelius sighed. "Wilbur will be going back in time soon. I don't know exactly when, it might have even already happened. I'm not entirely sure how the timeline matches up on this side of things."

Franny wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling. To be honest she wasn't sure she was feeling much of anything at all. It seemed like this should matter to her. She should be upset or hurt or happy or something, but, hmm.

"Going back in time... to see 'Lewis'?"

Cornelius nodded.

A pause. "Does anything...happen?"

"Nothing significant" 'this time' was left unsaid but Franny heard it loud and clear.

"Well," she stood up and started to walk away "I suppose it's finally time for you guys to have the safe sex talk."

"wh-WHAT?" Franny couldn't see her husband's face but she was entirely certain what shade of red it was turning. She laughed her way out of the room.

It was just after midnight. They had spent the afternoon hanging out in Lewis's room, just talking and enjoying each other's company. Wilbur had been planning on heading back home around nightfall but Lewis asked him to stay, said he had something to show him, and Wilbur was a _sucker_ so he agreed. So now it was something like 12:15am and the two of them were sneaking through the house trying not to wake up Mr. And Mrs. Robinson in the process. They probably could have gone earlier but Lewis's parents went to bed around 10:30 most nights and they agreed to wait the extra hour and a half just to be on the safe side.

"So, what did you wanna show me?" Wilbur whispered.

"Shhhhh! I told you! It's a surprise." Ironically Lewis was the louder of the two but Wilbur figured now was not the best time to argue that particular point.

They got to the top of the stairs and there was a door Wilbur was about to go through-

"Wait!" Lewis's hands slapped over his eyes and he stumbled, just barely stopping himself from falling.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"Shhhhh!!!"

"Sorry, did you want me to be quiet when you blind me out of nowhere?!" Despite his words Wilbur still dropped his voice back down to a whisper.

"Aw come on, it's not that bad, and it'll be way better this way, trust me."

Wilbur forcefully sighed in such a way as to tell Lewis exactly how he was feeling about the situation but let Lewis lead him blindly out of the door and onto what must have been the roof given the sudden drop in temperature and the slight breeze.

"Ok, we're gonna slowly sit down, alright?"

Wilbur nodded and the two of them successfully sat down without dislodging Lewis's hands although Wilbur couldn't imagine that it had looked very graceful.

"Ok," Lewis shifted his hands so only one of his hands was being used to cover both of Wilburs eyes and the other came around to cradle the back of his head and he gently lowered Wilbur's head to the ground so he was lying on his back.

"What are y-" Wilbur was cut off by the feeling of soft lips pressed against his own. He grinned into the kiss and he was pretty sure what he was feeling was what was typically described as "butterflies" in his stomach.

"Is that the surprise?"

"No. This is." Lewis took his hand away and Wilbur opened his eyes. His breath caught in his lungs. He'd seen the night sky from his roof before, of course, but he didn't know it could ever look like _that._ There were so many more stars, they were all so fine and detailed and he didn't know the night sky could have so many different colors. The milky way was actually _visible._ Somehow he didn't realize you could actually see it with human eyes from earth, certainly not like this. It was beautiful.  
He glanced over at Lewis wide-eyed only to see him grinning right back at him. He immediately felt his face heat up. 

"Do you like it?"

Wilbur nodded, "Yeah it's, yeah."

"Good, I'm glad." Lewis laid down too, not exactly next to Wilbur, his body was pointed in the complete opposite direction but they were laying in such a way that their heads lined up right next to each other. He couldn't help but think that from above, they must look like parallel lines, always moving together but destined never to meet.

Lewis wasn't sure exactly how long they'd been laying there. Long enough that he was starting to feel the cold. They'd been talking. Not about anything important, not really. Life, their interests, their hopes and dreams. All the while watching the stars. Lewis was glad Wilbur liked them. He had thought he would. Truth be told, Lewis didn't always like looking at them. When he looked at the stars, sometimes they would make his chest ache in a way he didn't really understand. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes things hurt in a good way and he thought this might be one of those things, but it was just so _overwhelming._

Wilbur was like that. Sometimes when he looked at Wilbur he felt so _sad._ Because, he knew they could never really be together. Because he knew this was destined to be temporary. Is that why the stars made him feel so bad? Because the universe was so large and beautiful and he would never get to see it? 

He glanced over at Wilbur only to find him already staring right back. They both held their breath, just staring at one another and the small space between them was thick with tension Lewis didn't know how to explain. 

"What are you thinking about?"

He didn't know how to answer. He couldn't look away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I actually write the safe sex talk scene or should it just be a joke? Vote now on your phones!  
> Thanks for reading, as always feel free to give me some feedback or just talk to me in general, there's not enough of us we have to stick together lol.


	3. Moments from the In-between pt1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, this was just supposed to be a fun filler chapter, BUT IT FKSBFKD GOT AWAY FROM ME AND NOW IT'S SO LONG I HAVE TO BREAK IT UP INTO TWO CHAPTERS AND THIS IS STILL LONGER THAN ANY OTHER CHAPTER I'VE POSTED SO FAR.  
> Anyway I uuuhhhhh promised a certain someone that Franny wouldn't really be in this chapter and uuuuuuuuuhhhhhh yeah so, that didn't work out. Listen I'm a sucker for mother son bonding jshfksjfk ~~honestly if this fic doesn't scream mommy/daddy issues idk what does akfnsfkskf~~  
>  IN OTHER NEWS???? WE GOT SOME REALLY CUTE FANART????  
> https://angymonzon.tumblr.com/post/627921362072354816/ill-see-you-again-in-another-lifetime-chapter  
> IT'S LOVELY THANK YOU SO MUCH <33333

Lewis noticed a small piece of paper lying on his desk that hadn't been there the night before.

3965 Alexandrine St  
February 23, 11:30am  
-W

He smiled to himself and carefully slipped the note into a book on his shelf.

It seemed he had a date lined up for the weekend.

###### 

Lewis had specifically chosen to not look into what they were doing ahead of time, but he was somehow more surprised to realize it was just a simple coffee shop than if it had been any of the weird and eccentric things he had been imagining. He stepped through the door and immediately found Wilbur already watching him with a small smile and he felt his disappointment quickly dissipate, being replaced by a warmth that had nothing to do with the heating as he suddenly understood the appeal of meeting in such a mundane setting. He started walking towards the table but before he could sit down Wilbur stood up to greet him and give him a small kiss and that had made it official. There was just something that felt good about being so openly domestic, especially since they didn't get to do things like this in public very often.

"I got you earl grey, two creams and some honey, since you're so sweet" Wilbur winked and Lewis rolled his eyes. He couldn't tell if Wilbur was doing it on purpose or if he was just genuinely bad at flirting but it seemed like as time went on the lines were getting worse and worse. 

"Aren't the bad jokes supposed to be my thing? Dad jokes and all that."

Wilbur's instant recoil and his look of disgust had Lewis laughing loudly and joyfully at his expense.

"I thought we weren't going to talk about that." He grumbled.

"Sorry," He could barely speak through his lingering chuckles, "I couldn't help myself."

They sat there for a while, just talking. They spent as much time together as they could but it was never enough, and it was harder to find a spare moment when practically every second they had together had to be thoroughly planned ahead of time. They couldn't reach out to each other during the normal day to day, and while Wilbur was capable of popping in whenever he was able, Lewis didn't have the same luxury. Ultimately they just weren't able to be together as often as they liked, so he cherished these small moments they had together. 

~~It was weird to think that one day Wilbur would be a part of his everyday life, and yet they wouldn't ever be able to have the same closeness that they shared now~~

As they left the coffee shop they decided to walk around the downtown area, there were a few interesting shops and of course anything in that time period was a novelty to Wilbur, but it was mostly an excuse to hold hands and huddle close together as they looked at things through shop windows and fought off the cold. Wilbur had _not_ been dressed appropriately for the weather, wearing only a long sleeved shirt with a short sleeved shirt layered on top. Lewis suspected that he had dressed more out of a desire to look good than anything else (and privately admitted that he'd succeeded) but it did him little good now that they were out in the cold and he was very obviously shivering. Luckily, Lewis had come more prepared with both a jacket and a sweatshirt. 

"Here," he shrugged out of his coat and then pulled his sweater off over his head and passed it over to Wilbur who looked a little stunned. "Well, go on, you're not gonna get any warmer if you don't put it on."

He looked down at the sweater and then hesitantly pulled it on. He seemed to linger with his hands over his face before tugging it down so it was on properly.

"...did you just _smell_ my sweater?"

Wilbur's cheeks were already pink from the cold but Lewis was pretty sure they got a little bit darker and he seemed to be unable to look Lewis in the eyes. "N-no, of course not. Are you kidding, why would I do something like that?!" Very convincing. 

"Whatever dork, let's just see if we can find somewhere to warm you up."

Wilbur squeezed his hand. "Nah, this is good enough."

###### 

There was a knock on the garage door, which was pretty unusual, Wilbur was typically the only person who hung out there and even if someone else wanted to come in they usually would just barge right in, no thought to anything so polite as knocking.

When he opened the door though, it turned out to be his, uh, his Dad. He didn't even know he was home right now.

"Hi Wil, got a minute?" He smiled but there was something slightly strained about it.

"Sure...?" Wilbur let him into(?) his own garage(?) The two of them hadn't really spent any time together one-on-one since the Incident™ and even when they were in family settings they tended to steer clear of each other when they could. Wilbur kind of missed being able to just casually hang out while his Dad worked on something, or watching movies together or any of the other little things they used to do together but he was still angry about how he didn't even get a _say_ in the matter and though it was easier now that he was with Lewis he still didn't feel good about the situation.

They sat across from each other at the table that had been shoved into the corner of the garage at some point, years ago. It wasn't necessarily comfortable but it served its purpose well enough. 

"Ok" his Dad leaned in but there was still a fair amount of room between the two of them, "So, you're getting older..." Wilbur genuinely had no idea where the fuck this conversation was going. "and I know you're going to want to... try some things..." He pulled out something small and shiny from his pocket. Oh. Oh no. "I just want to make sure that when you do you're able to do so in a way that's both safe and responsible."

"Oh my god!" Wilbur covered his burning face with his hands "Do we _really_ have to have this conversation right now?!"

His, uh, you know what Wilbur was just gonna call him Cornelius because this was too much. Anyway, Cornelius gave him a significant look, "Yes. It's important that we have this conversation now." 

Oh my god. What the fuck. What the fuck. Wilbur didn't think he was going to make it through this. Just kill him now.

Cornelius waited patiently for a while, but when it didn't seem like Wilbur was going to be coming up anytime soon he decided he had to intervene. "Wilbur? You know the sooner we get through this the sooner it'll be over and you can pretend it never happened."

He muttered "I don't think that'll be possible" but regardless he picked his head up and did his best to pay attention.

Cornelius smiled, "Ok, so," he held up the little foil packet, "this is a condom. You should use one every time you have sex. It will protect you from STIs as well as just make clean up a whole lot easier!" He laughed at his own joke. Wilbur's stomach felt tight. "Of course, it will also help ensure you don't have any unplanned pregnancies on the way, but I don't think that'll be a huge concern of yours for the time being... Anyway! It's really easy," he tore the package open and slipped out a little shiny disk. It was blue. "It will only unwrap in one direction, see?" He held it with one hand and pushed it from the wrong direction to prove that it wouldn't work. Wilbur felt like he was dying. "Just put it, well, where you want it. Typically you would hold the tip like this with one hand and unroll it with the other, to make sure there's no air inside of the condom, but in this case I only have two hands, so! Just Imagine it's happening." He slowly unrolled the condom over his index and middle finger on his right hand and Wilburs eyes were latched onto his hands, unable to look away. His entire body was tense and he knew it wasn't just because of how uncomfortable the situation was, and he really wasn't prepared to deal with any of this. Fuck.

"When you're, well, done, hold it like this" he gripped the base of his fingers. Wilbur swallowed. "And, uh, pull out. And then you can remove it like this, and you're done!" Cornelius looked up at Wilbur, "Any questions?"

"No."

"O-ok! Well!" Cornelius seemed like he might be getting a little flustered. Wilbur was sure he was just imagining it. "In any case, while we're here we should also talk about dental dams, they're basically used for anything other than, uh, penises." This was so dumb. And bad. And dorky. Wilbur was genuinely a little angry that it was getting to him. "The intention is to help prevent the spread of diseases. You can buy dental dams but in a pinch you can turn a condom into one like this!" He pulled out a pair of scissors and cut the tip off of the condom and then cut a line down the side unraveling it into a rectangle of latex.

They just stared at each other for a minute.

"...What are you supposed to do with it?"

"Oh! Uh?" Cornelius's face started to turn a bit pink. Good. At least now Wilbur wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable. "It's, um, you use it for oral? On anything that's not a, uh, penis?" He started fidgeting. "So you put it over, wherever, like this" he put it over his curled up left hand, "and then you can-" he started rubbing it in a circular motion with his other hand and oh my god-

"Please stop." Wilbur's head was on the table again. What even was his life.  
"Ok, ok! Sorry! There's just one more thing we need to discuss before I let you go." Wilbur reluctantly raised his head back up just enough to look at Cornelius. "This is really important. You should always have lube on hand just in case you need it, it never hurts and it can do a lot to ensure you and your partner are comfortable." Wilbur hated this conversation. He absolutely hated it. What did he ever do to deserve this torture. "But!! You should _only_ ever use water based lube. Oil can damage a condom and make it ineffective. You should never use lotion or any oil based lubricants for this reason."

"Ok, great, are we done now?" 

"Yes, but just so you know, if you ever need any supplies, please don't hesitate to ask me or your mother, we'd much rather you be safe-"

"OK, GREAT, THANKS" Wilbur got up and quickly made his way over to the chute that would take him out of the garage and away from what was probably the worst conversation of his entire life! To make matters worse he realized his pants were a little tight and oh my god kill him now what the fuck.

He made his way to his room, fell onto his bed face first, and screamed into his pillow.

###### 

Lewis was nervous. It was dumb. At the very worst, Wilbur would have some very logical reason for not being able to go and they'd move on. Maybe that's why Lewis was so nervous. He wouldn't be able to argue if Wilbur had a genuinely good reason not to go and, well, he just really wanted this to work out. 

"Um, hey Wilbur?"

He looked up from the book he was reading on Lewis's floor. "What's up?"

It was somehow even harder to get the words out than Lewis imagined. "Would you want to? That is to say, there's this, well, it's dumb, actually this was probably a bad idea, you know what nevermind."

"Well _now_ I'm intrigued." He was smiling but his eyes were sharp and Lewis's skin felt hot under his scrutiny.

"It's nothing. There's just, there's a school dance in about a month. I thought maybe we could- but you probably don't want to, it's fine." His hands were fidgeting and he couldn't peel his gaze off of the curling up corner of the carpet. 

"Well, I certainly can't let you go by yourself, you'll probably do something embarrassing without me there to keep you in line." Lewis looked up and Wilburs focus was back on his book but then he glanced over at Lewis with a smirk and oh. Ok. 

Lewis went back to the design he was drawing up in his notebook but he couldn't keep the grin off of his face and his chest felt so full he thought it might burst open.

###### 

Wilbur had absolutely no idea what he was going to wear. Obviously he had to look good for this thing, but he didn't know anything about retro fashion! He wasn't even sure if any of the clothes he had would pass for retro formal wear. He figured the easiest thing to do would be go shopping during Lewis's time, but there were two issues with that. A) Because he didn't know anything about how it was supposed to look, he was going to need a second more skilled pair of eyes on the situation. Unfortunately, Lewis was the only person he knew in the past and having his help would totally defeat the purpose. B) all of his money was from the future, he couldn't exactly spend money that hadn't even been printed yet.

Ok, he did actually have one idea. It just, wasn't a great one.

"...Hey Mom?" She looked up from the notebook she had been writing in. Wilbur knew she had been working on composing a new piece for the past month or so. He felt bad taking her away from her work but he was getting a bit desperate. 

"Hey Kid, what's up?"

"I uh, I need your help with something." His shoulders were inching higher and higher as his anxiety got the better of him. Hopefully she wouldn't be upset? Why did he think this was a good idea again?

"Of course!" She put her notebook away and sat up straight, giving him her full attention. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, um," he scratched the back of his head, "so, the thing is, Lewis kind of invited me to a school dance?" He glanced up at her, gauging her reaction but she was still just looking at him attentively. "A-anyway, I don't really have any formal wear that would be appropriate during the 2000's you know? I was hoping maybe you could help me with my outfit?"

Her face was still blank "...You want me to help you get ready for your date."

"Uh.....yes?"

"Ok." She got up and ruffled his hair as she walked by, he stuck his tongue out and scrunched up his face and quickly began trying to fix the damage done. "So what were you thinking? Scouring thrift stores? I'm sure we could tailor it if we found something that was around what you're looking for."

"Actually... I was thinking maybe we could go shopping... in the past?"

"Oh! Of course." She winked at him and started walking out of the room. "We'll need some spending money then."

"Why, do you have an idea?"

###### 

"It should be right around here....." Wilbur was trailing behind his mom as they made their way through the downtown area of Lewis's hometown. Wilbur was a little nervous that they would bump into him but it was 10am on a Tuesday so he _should_ be stuck in class right now and he really wasn't the type to ditch. 

"Ah, here we go" they had come up to a building with big yellow letters saying **14K PAWN & EXCHANGE** in the window was a multi colored neon sign advertising **WE BUY GOLD & SILVER**, as they stepped inside the musty smell of cigarette smoke hit and Wilbur couldn't stop himself from scrunching up his face in disgust. In the future cigarettes had become a novelty few indulged in and usually in very specific specialty bars and such, so he hadn't had enough exposure to them to find it endearing in the same way that his mom did. The smell wasn't even that strong but it was still unpleasant to his virgin nose.

Wilbur poked around the shop while his mom talked to the clerk at the desk. The display cases with jewelry were to be expected but somehow he hadn't expected the shelves full of odd tools and electronics. 

His mom had 3D printed some gold jewelry to sell. It was 18k so it wasn't like they were scamming them, although it would drastically go down in value in a few years when gold whatever became something anyone could make in their living room. Oh well, times would be changing one way or another. 

As he was hovering around the electric guitars that had been mounted to the wall his mom approached from the side, "Hey, are you ready to head out?"  
When they got about a block away from the pawn shop she let out a big sigh and sort of shook herself off. "Whew!!! That was a little nerve wracking!!" 

"It was?"

"Yeah well, thankfully he didn't look at my ID too closely, but I was definitely sweating there for a minute!" She laughed but Wilbur was still just as confused. It must have shown on his face because she went on to explain, "You have to be over 18 to sell something to a pawn shop, and to prove you're over 18 you have to show ID. Mine just so happens to say that it was issued 13 years from now and that I'm currently 15 years old, so." She laughed again and Wilbur stopped in his tracks with retroactive anxiety for what could have been. "Ah, quit worrying, it's fine! Plus," she pulled out a handful of paper money, "I got us $300! I'd say that's worth it." 

Wilbur didn't really have a good sense of how much money that really was but given her reaction he'd say it was a fairly substantial amount. He jumped up and hugged her tightly, "Thanks Mom." She patted his back and then squeezed him softly, just the two of them enjoying a moment together. 

"Alright, come on, we still gotta take you shopping remember?"

_If this was a visual medium, this is where we would have a fun montage of Wilbur trying on different outfits, with increasingly ridiculous aspects to them, and Franny being very fun and supportive, and also occasionally steering him down wrong paths because it's fun. This is not a visual medium though so you will just have to imagine it yourself._

_Franny would also definitely try on a fancy dress or two just so that the two of them could pose in the mirror together._

Wilbur eventually settled on a charcoal black dress shirt and dark black dress pants. They had enough to get some very nice dark leather shoes to match. 

"I will refrain from being an embarrassing parent right now, on the condition that I get one photo of you the night of. Deal?"

They stared each other down. "Fine." They shook hands. It was finalized. 

"Alright, we've still got some money to spend, wanna get some lunch while we're here? I know a good spot." She wagged her eyebrows. 

The "good spot" turned out to be a sandwich place a few blocks from there. It was pretty good and Wilbur briefly considered taking Lewis there before he realized if his mom knew about it then Franny must come by sometimes, so, maybe not. It was nice to spend some time with his mom though. It was odd, he hadn't expected her to be so calm about the situation.

"Hey Mom? Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure Sweetheart, what's up?"

"Why doesn't all of this... bother you more?" Wilbur almost regretted asking the second the words left his mouth. Maybe it would be better to just not think about it? But he had to know. 

She set down her sandwich, giving him her full attention. "You mean the situation between you and Lewis?" He nodded. "Well, hmm, are you sure you want to hear this?"

Wilbur hesitated, but he nodded again.

"Well, it's not like I thought I was his first. I knew he'd met his soulmate before we got together. And remember, all of these things might be happening to you right now, but for me they're in the past. They don't necessarily have any bearing on my current relationship with your father. At some point we'll have to figure out what all of this means for us right now, or, I guess I mean in the future, but that's the sort of bridge we can't cross until we get to it."

That was foreboding. Actually, it sort of implied... "Wait, what does that mean?"

She winked again. "Don't worry about it, hey your soup is getting cold" 

Smooth redirect Mom. Wilbur was going to scream.

###### 

It was the night of the dance. Actually it was technically 3 days after the night it would usually have been since Wilbur typically tried to keep their timelines fairly similar but doing it tonight made it _Friday_ and clearly that was the ideal night to go to a dance. It was weird because he felt super anxious, but technically he had as much time as he wanted to get ready. All of the nerves, none of the pressure. 

"How do I look?" He jumped into the room his mom was waiting in patiently and held his arms out for inspection.

"Well," she ran a hand over his hair, slicking it back further and into place, "I'd say you clean up nicely."

"Are you sure?" He nervously straightened the hem of his shirt. He had gone back and forth for a good 20 minutes about whether he should have it tucked in or leave it untucked.

"If you're that concerned I could always get Cornelius in here for his opinion." 

"Mom!" The smirk on her face was downright evil and Wilbur felt a rush of anxiety and he could feel his face heat up and, gah! He didn't need to be thinking about this right now! 

"I'm just teasing! You look good, trust me. Your boyfriend won't know what to do with himself." 

Because he really needed _another_ reason to feel embarrassed right now. He scratched at the back of his head, "If you say so."

"I know so. Now come on, stand up straight! You promised me a picture, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember." He stuck his hands in his pockets and tried to smirk for the camera. Click! Whzzzzzurt. It was one of those hybrids, it would save a digital copy _and_ print off a polaroid-like immediate copy of your picture. 

"Alright! You better head out now before it gets too late."

"How can it be too late when I've got a time machine?" Even so, he started moving towards the garage despite his words.

"You say that now, but just wait till you're halfway through the night and everyone else is having a good time while you're wishing you were in bed." She warned.

He rolled his eyes. He was a teenager, he was well versed in staying up hours past the point he should have been in bed.

###### 

Wilbur was leaning against the fence outside of Lewis's school in what had become their "usual" spot to meet up. It was 7:30 and the school dance appeared to already be in full swing, given the loud music emanating from the gym. 

"Hey." He turned and then had to do a double take. Lewis was wearing a light grey shirt with a vest and even a tie tucked into it. Nothing could have been done about that hair of his but he clearly made an attempt to get it in order. He actually looked... kind of hot. He actually looked really hot. 

Wilbur swallowed. "Hey."

Lewis grinned and hesitantly, he stepped forward and grabbed the hem of Wilburs shirt, softly rubbing the fabric between his fingers. "You look good. I wasn't sure if you were gonna wear some weird futuristic clothing or something."

Wilbur sucked in a breath at the proximity. "Is that what you were hoping for? Because I have to be honest that would have been a lot easier." He cupped Lewis's face and leaned in. "You're pretty easy on the eyes yourself." He put his hand on his waist, gave a light squeeze and then smoothed it around until he was holding the small of his back and could pull Lewis up against himself more fully. "I like the vest" and then he kissed him. 

Lewis moaned and melted into the kiss, but he pulled away before they could get too into it. "We should, uh, we should get to the dance before we get... distracted."

"Right, right. Of course." They walked to the door that led into the gym, there was a teacher by the entrance sitting at a table with a box and a notebook. Lewis greeted her and handed her two little red tickets.

"Name?" 

"Cornelius Robinson."

She flipped through her notebook until she found him and highlighted the name, then she turned to Wilbur. "And yours?"

"Oh, uh, he's my guest. Wilbur."

"That's alright, do you have an ID sweetheart?" She smiled at him.

"Oh, um, I didn't know I needed to bring one. I can go back for it if you'd like?"

She looked him over for a minute, hesitating. "Nah, don't worry about it, I trust you guys. Have a good time!"

###### 

Cornelius was sitting in bed, reading a book as the evening wound down, when Franny sauntered in with a smirk on her face.

"I got you a present." He perked up at that, Cornelius was nothing if not curious. She held out a small piece of paper.

He took it and upon further examination it was actually a photograph. Oh.

A small, fond smile took over his face. "I remember this night.." it was weird seeing it from this side of things. He remembered Wilbur seeming so cool, being anxious to live up to his expectations. Now it's obvious how nervous Wilbur must have been, the red dusting his cheeks a dead give away but also, he can tell that his posture is more tense than usual, that he's putting on a show. "I take it you helped him get ready?" 

"Of course! What are moms for if not helping their sons get ready for their dates" she winked "and embarrassing them before their dates, of course." 

He laughed. "I don't think it even occurred to me. And of course Wilbur wouldn't even hint at such a thing. It's nice, I'm glad he's happy."

She sat down next to him on the bed. "Are you happy?" 

He smiled, "Yeah, I am."

She returned his smile with one of her own, kissed his cheek, and then settled in for the night.

###### 

Wilbur hadn't been to many school dances, he didn't usually have much of a reason to go. He wasn't sure exactly what he expected but there was something very surreal about the situation. The room was darker than usual but still fairly well lit, there were flashing lights, in the middle there was a pile of people dancing to loud 2000's pop music. The rest of the room was filled with smaller groups, some dancing by themselves, some just standing around talking. On one wall there was a set of tables with food and drinks, presumably brought by parents and maybe a few teachers, and the wall with the bleachers had them open covered in abandoned bags and a few stragglers who preferred to sit down.

"So, what are we supposed to do exactly?"

"Uh," Lewis sheepishly scratched the back of his head "I'm not sure exactly, I haven't actually been to one of these before? I assume we dance?"

They found a corner no one else was in and just sort of stood there for a moment, staring at each other. Abruptly, the situation became hilarious instead of awkward, or maybe it was hilarious _because_ it was awkward but they both started laughing hysterically to the point where when one was about calmed down enough to stop, they would meet eyes and both of them would burst into laughter again.

"Oh!" Wilbur straightened up from where he was leaning on Lewis for support in these trying times. "Hey, I actually know this one." 

"Oh yeah? You dabble in late 2000's pop?"

"Dude, this is a classic."

"It came out like a week ago."

" _Whatever_ just, come on, we're supposed to dance aren't we?" Wilbur grabbed Lewis's hands and started trying to do who knows what, presumably some dance move from the future but Lewis had never seen anything like it and, though he tried to follow along they just got all tangled up in each other.

"What are you doing?"

"What am _I_ doing? What are _you_ doing?! This isn't the future you know, we don't have, whatever that was."

"Well how do _you_ dance then?"

"We uh, I don't know, you just kind of" he moved side to side in time with the music and his hands made gestures in the air that very vaguely fit with the music. Wilbur started to try to copy him, but it wasn't going great. Lewis assumed they both looked hilarious to be honest, he wasn't necessarily the best dancer either. But hey, they were having a good time, and Wilbur was sort of starting to get into it.

Actually, this was really fun.

They were a few songs in, running on an emotional high when the music suddenly dropped into something much softer and slower. They both stopped and looked at each other, nervously chuckling about the situation, Wilbur held out his hand. Lewis stepped into his space, arms hanging loosely around Wilbur's shoulders, his hands on his waist, and they swayed softly back and forth to the music. Their gazes were locked, no eyes for anything except each other, but every so often they would trail down, and then flick back up, the tension growing each time and Lewis wanted to kiss him so badly it was becoming hard to breathe.

Wilbur leaned in and rested his forehead against Lewis's, eyes closing. They were still swaying but slower now, and Lewis didn't even know if it was still in time with the music, it seemed insignificant in comparison to the feeling of Wilbur's body pressed up against his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading!!! Hopefully I'll have part 2 out sooner rather than later but we'll see how it goes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave constructive criticism.  
> I made a playlist that isn't necessarily meant to be for this fic specifically but is secretly a Lewis/Wilbur playlist in case you're interested in checking it out http://8tracks.com/tiny-fox/maybe-this-was-a-mistake.  
> Also my Tumblr is itsnotmymain if you want to come talk to me about these nerds or the playlist (and ask me about the two secret tracks 8tracks wouldn't publish) or anything other content you find on there.  
> (It is also my porn blog so,,,, beware)


End file.
